Cowboys, Christmas, and Second Chances

Ranches aren’t so different from farms, right? A few more horses and cows, a few less sheep and chickens. Still country living near small towns. Still wide open spaces instead of back alleys. Still the smells of nature rather than exhaust fumes. Still romance.

Just add cowboys. Stir. Enjoy.

I’ve been toying with a cowboy series for well over a year, but it wasn’t until Kimberly Rose Johnson suggested a Christmas box set to her fellow Inspy Romance authors last winter that I decided it was time. After all, I was down to only the Urban Farm Fresh Romance series since the completion of my final Arcadia Valley Romance in spring, and had been considering what to alternate with. What can I say? I like having two series on the go at once!

So, cowboys. More traditional covers. Strong keyword titles and all the romantic tropes everyone loves. Lots of room for my own writing style to shine.

And what about the heroine? Why did she flee her wedding to a great guy — a cowboy, no less? In the first chapter, he rescues her when her car slides off the road in a snowstorm.

“So… your daughter.” Kade flicked a glance into the rearview mirror at Harmony.

Some wouldn’t believe she wasn’t Kade’s child, but he knew. Cheri knew. “Her name is Harmony. She’ll be six in April.” Let him do the math.

He shot her a tight glance barely discernible in the glow of the truck’s instrument panel. “Who’s her father?”

Yep, he’d done the math. Harmony had been born nine months after the wedding that hadn’t happened. Cheri shook her head. She wasn’t ready to go there with Kade. Dredge open the whole mess from that horrible summer.

That’ll work. Not that I knew the day I wrote the first chapter why it had all happened, but those few paragraphs set the stage for some juicy conflict that would make a sweet Christmas reunion something that wouldn’t easily drop in their laps. They’d have to work for their happily-ever-after!

Now I was super curious about their children. I knew how old her daughter was and some (unfortunate) information about her conception. How about Kade’s 2-year-old son? How did Kade go from jilted lover to father to widower to looking for love again? Would the two children get along? They’re too young to conspire… right?

Is it too unbelievable that Good Guy Kade Delgado would fall in love with Cheri, then Jericho’s mother, then back with Cheri? Is he that wishy-washy? I didn’t want him wishy-washy. I wanted him filled with quiet strength. When I realized what had happened in the intervening years, I got pretty excited. I hope you’ll love the twist in the middle!

When Kade Delgado joins his buddies in a Cowboy Santa program to shower Christmas blessings on old folks and single moms, he doesn’t expect his former fiancée to return to Saddle Springs, in need and with a child in tow. Does God really expect him to treat Cheri the same as the others on his new Christmas list?

Cheri Mackenzie has never forgiven herself for the pain she caused Kade by fleeing a week before their wedding, but undoing the past is impossible. Circumstances force her back to her aging grandparents’ Montana ranch, where Kade, now a widower with a toddler, is making himself cheerfully indispensable. When she receives kindness instead of the hostility she surely deserves, she can’t help but pray for a Christmas reunion with the cowboy she’s never stopped loving.

Valerie Comer is a USA Today bestselling author and a two-time Word Award winner who writes where food meets faith and fiction. She injects experience laced with humor into her green clean romances. Her life on a small farm in western Canada provides the seed for stories of contemporary inspirational romance. Like many of her characters, Valerie and her family grow much of their own food and are active in the local foods movement as well as their church. She only hopes her creations enjoy their happily-ever-afters as much as she does hers, shared with her husband, adult kids, and adorable granddaughters.

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Comments

Hi Valerie, swooney cover:) I think the Australian equivalent of a ranch might be a station? I hear/read lots about ranches, and they sound a lot like the big cattle stations we have. I am looking forward to reading this set- how fun to have books from all of you together:)
Blessings:)

I love this cover, too! I decided to go with this style for the new series as a test, so I’m glad to hear you love it!

Yes to cattle stations. Ranches are large tracts of land that are (mostly) not suitable for grain crops. They’re often rough and hilly marginal land, where beef cattle can roam for the summer months and through winter in some climates, like Texas, maybe. Notice I didn’t write a story set in Texas, but Montana! I’m far more familiar with the climate and terrain of Montana – especially the west since it’s so near home – than Texas, the other common US ranch setting.

Hi Valerie and Congratulations to all eight Inspy Romance writers on their delightful #1 Amazon Best Seller in Christian Short Stories. Valerie, thanks for sharing your background story and a special thanks to Kimberly Rose Johnson for initiating the inspiring holiday boxed set. As a Michigander, farmers will remain my heroes. That is what drew me to your Farm Fresh and Urban Farm Fresh series. Alex at our local fruit stand graduated from the school where I taught. Yes, to romance at their family farm. His mom has delightful posts on their fruit stand Facebook page. therefore I was able in person to wish Alex Happy 11th Anniversary while purchasing some of his delicious green peppers and Honey Crisp Apples. Farmers rock. Best wishes and Happy Writing.

Yes! It sounds so good! I live on a ranchette (small ranch) surrounded by apple and pear orchards, cattle and horse ranches. Farmers and ranchers are my loves!
I write stories full of them. Bless you and I love the cover too.
These tropes, they are the good ones in my opinion.

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